Blogs > It's Time To Take A Stand

Being a business theatre producer has allowed Brian the opportunity to meet and work with some very fascinating people from a variety of backgrounds which, in turn, has helped shape his knowledge and his opinions. His blog will not always be political, it will be about a lifetime of subjects, and nothing is off limits. “Few people have original thoughts, we are shaped by the people we know and meet” he says.



Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Health Care Showdown Partisanship Continues

With the Obama White House Health Care seminar coming to a screen near you, the degree of misinformation is elevated to proportions of astonishing heights.

The Democrats claim it is going to be an open ended discussion with the opportunity to have Republican input. Republicans claim it is a closed ended game of political positioning by the Democrats because they have already finalized the bill without any input from them.

The only thing upon which both parties agree is that Health Care needs reform. That is where it begins and that is where it stops. Neither party is willing to give an inch of their territory. Neither party is really willing to negotiate or compromise. Neither party is willing to listen to the other side.

To be fair the Republicans have been barred from many closed door meetings by the Democrats. The Democrats had enough votes to pass the bill but failed because they don't have the courage of their convictions. They don't want to take the blame for the fiasco the bill claims to fix. They don't want to be held responsible for their own voting record.

The Republicans, on the other hand, claim they were shut out of the Democratic process by the Democrats. They claim that none of their ideas are included in the bill. They can't even get a vote on their ideas or suggestions.

I ask you what would the difference be if the Republicans were the majority power? Would they have the courage to tackle the Health Care mess? Would they shut the Democrats out? Would they mirror the Democrats actions?

They did in the previous decade when they had the majority control. What makes us think they will be different this time? Should they become the majority party after the November elections we will have to wait and see.

They now know that the public is looking for major reform on Health Care, on entitlements, on illegal immigration, on government deficit spending, on balancing the budget, among the many other actions required to numerous to list here.

They may get their chance but I guarantee it will be their last chance to get it right before a viable third party arises from the ashes of government to challenge both parties.

Many Americans don't like the way government is being run and want to see someone take the lead, but neither Republicans nor Democrats have any real leaders. As Lee Iaccoca said in his book, "Where have all the leaders gone?" We have nothing but bullys and tacticians in government and no one has any experience in the real world of business.

That is my take of the current situation, what is yours?

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Political Expectancy

How informed do your elected officials have to be?

Have you ever noticed when someone runs for an elective office, they get asked so many questions and they are supposed to know everything? They are supposed to, all of a sudden, be the expert.

Why does a person running for office feel he or she has to be the smartest person in the room? What makes them so intelligent that they are not allowed to say, "I don't know?" What is wrong with saying, "Let me research an answer to your question and get back to you."

What are you going to do about the recession? The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? The unemployment problem? Gays in the Military? Immigration? Climate change? Abortion? Prolife or Prochoice? Energy? Nuclear? Coal Plants? Offshore drilling? The Asian carp? The deficit?

To me, if you have answers to everything, you probably shouldn't be a public servant. If I am the smartest person in the room, the room is more than likely filled with not very smart people. We should know how to find smarter people.
I recently attended a political forum and the questions asked of the people running for office were amazing. Rather than ask how they were going to win the election; how they were going to beat their opponent; how they were going to defeat an incumbent. The audience wanted to know their positions on a number of irrelevant subjects as if they were running to replace God. They were the party nominee so it wasn't a case of issues or party platform.

Politicians need to have the mettle to say "I don't know" or "I haven't completely formed my opinion on that issue" or "I haven't investigated that issue yet." I would be more likely to listen to a politician give me an honest answer than a line of BS that goes on and on without answering the question. Why do we feel they should have all of the answers?

I watched Barbara Walters interview Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown on This Week a while ago and she asked him if he would support a certain issue and he said, No." He didn't go on, he just said, "No." No long dissertation on why he said no. No explanation, she was asked a pointed question and the answer was no. No dancing or evading the question, just "No."

Can you ever imagine President Obama answering a question with one word? Or for that matter any Senator or Congressman. They know everything, at least they think they do. They are the "Experts of ALL." They know more of what is right for you than you do. You are the idiot for thinking for yourself. Leave it to them because they are smarter than everyone else.

It is time to take back politics from professional politicians and let normal average citizens do the job. We probably can't screw it up as bad as it is right now. It is OK to not know everything, to not have a position on everything, to not be the smartest person in the room.

Remember that when you go to the polls in November.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

NBC Displays Poor Taste!

NBCs constantly showing the Georgian luger who was accidentally killed on Friday during practice runs shows how out of touch they are with reality. Don't they know that by repeatedly showing the accident they could be scarring a child for life? Don't they realize that this is not about ratings? They are the only network televising the Olympics! They have displayed a total lack of class and sensitivity.

They showed the accident four times during a two hour broadcast of the Today show this morning. I am sure that when the Olympic telecast starts at 2:00 pm today, they will continue to show their total disregard for life and show it most of the day, over and over. Enough!

Come on NBC, wake up and show some good taste and stop playing the accident. We all feel bad that it happened but replaying it will only disgust most of the viewing public. It is a wonder none of the advertisers haven't complained. If I were a sponsor of the Olympics, I would be demanding NBC stop playing the death of this young athlete. It borders on criminal behavior.

Let NBC know how you feel. Send them an email at: nbcolympicsfeedback@nbcuni.com

That is my stand, what do you think?

Friday, February 12, 2010

Governor Granholm shows her incompetence, AGAIN!

2010 Michigan budget estimate $45+ billion. 2011 Michigan budget estimate $47+ billion.

What is wrong with that? Everyone in Michigan is cutting expenses and our glorious governor is raising the state budget by over $2 Billion. Her recently proposed budget is just another example of how out of touch our governor and politicians in general are. What part of "CUT" is hard to understand. "CUT" seems pretty simple. Let's try "CUT NOW", not next year.

Cut 10% across the board would save $4.5 billion savings. The state has a $1.8 billion deficit right now. It needs to cut at least $1.8 billion to have a balanced budget so why Governor Granholm is presenting an increase of over $2 billion is beyond my pay grade of comprehension.

She must just be out of her mind.

Remember this in November when we get to vote to replace her.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Positioning for the Future!

If for one second you think that President Obama, based on his Super Bowl Day interview, is sincere when he says he wants to change politics in Washington, I am afraid that you are going to be extremely disappointed.

Don't you hate it when an administration brings national known news reader from a network like CBS, hands her the questions to ask and pretends it is a news service that they are providing? Did this look like a completely fabricated political maneuver by the administration? This only demonstrates politicians' disdain for the voting public.

The audacity of our President to pay CBS for 15 minutes during the Super Bowl hyped pregame program is, by any standard, manipulative and repulsive. Cash may not have passed hands but I'll bet some heavy political capital was spent to get this very valuable time slot.

In case you missed it, President Obama used the 44th Super Bowl Pregame audience for his latest foray into the world of Chicago Style politics, inviting Republicans to participate in an open nationally televised debate on health care reform. I have some questions. (For his fully speech, copy and paste this CBS News link. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6184114n)

Why now? Why didn't Obama exhibit this degree of leadership when the Democrats began their closed-door meetings on the Health care Bill? Why did it take the Tea Party movement, the governor elections in N.J. and Virgina and the Senate elections in Massachusetts before he decided to maybe, possibly include ideas from Republicans?

So President Obama wants you to believe that he truly wants Republican ideas. That their input is going to count. That this is going to be a strictly bi-partisan committee dedicated to Health care reform.

"If Democrats and Republicans come together in a sensible way, putting everything on the table, not trying to position themselves politically ahead of time, then there's no reason why we can't start putting into place some serious measures that will start lowering the deficit long term" said President Obama. He went on to say that Health care reform is the first major step to reducing the deficit. He says it so believably only after positioning himself and the Democrat party politically.

Will he or Democrats take any Republican ideas seriously? I don't believe so. This was just political posturing at its best before the American people trying to postpone retirement for many Democrats.

Remember to vote in November.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

President Obama and CBS Super Bowl Coverage

Can you believe that President Obama has the gall to pretend to have an interview with Katie Couric during the coverage of the Super Bowl pregame? Unbelievable. Why didn't he wait until half time?

His ego is so large that he has to be center stage everywhere, every time. Using the Super Bowl stage to move his personal agenda and the Democrats is an outrage.

Remember this in November.

Friday, February 5, 2010

What's wrong with Lansing?

House Bill 5649 (Appropriations: Revise Secretary of State funding ) Introduced by Rep. Kathy Angerer (D) on December 3, 2009. Passed in the House (65 to 41) on February 4, 2010, to restrict the ability of the Secretary of State to reorganize branch office operations, including closing lesser-used offices, by reorganizing the appropriations line item for its branch office funding from a single line item to numerous specific line items.

The Secretary of State, in case you haven't noticed, has been doing an incredible job. She has streamlined many procedures, made offices efficient, brought the offices into the 21st century technology wise, closed many small very expensive offices, created Super Offices and improved employee morale. Yet some people in Lansing are trying to tie her hands behind her back by restricting her activities.

Governor Granholm talked about balancing the budget during her State of the State address but politicians keep trying to pass stupid bills, always increasing the state budget. If they were serious about balancing the budget for next year, they shouldn't wait until September to start talking about it. They should be talking about it starting this week. They should be in session until it is balanced, without taking a spring break, a summer break or any time off until it is balanced. NOW! She should force them to stay in session without taking time off to campaign for re-election. That would get their attention.

Money is tight for everyone, except politicians. They haven't had to cut to survive. They haven't had to skip a meal or go without a roof over their heads as many people as having to do. They haven't lost their cars.

If the Governor really wanted to balance the budget, she should CUT. It is that simple. Eliminate all government vehicles to politicians, suspend all non-essential travel and expenses, reduce or eliminate all non-life sustaining programs, immediately cut all state employee pay (including politicians) by at least 10%, not wait until 2012 as is currently planned. I am not talking about programs that people need to survive, I am talking about programs for the arts (unfortunately), programs to build unnecessary buildings, like the new $145,000,000 Michigan State Police Headquarters in Lansing. (I know it is only $145 million but you have to start somewhere and that is a good start). We have become so jaded by Washington talking about billions and trillions that millions is no longer important. Ten million dollars here and there adds up to real money somewhere down the road, except in politics.

The inefficiency in Lansing is only exceeded by the incompetence of Washington. Remember to vote in November to take our country back from the despots who are ruining it.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Super Bowl Commercial

What is with all of the hoopla about a Super Bowl commercial featuring a Christian football player? Pro-abortion advocates say it is because Tim Tebow is Pro-life and that CBS has, in the past, refused advocacy commercials. They would be right on both accounts. Why has CBS, in the past, refused advocacy commercials. Probably because they didn't have a solid tie-in with football. What they fail to take into account is that Tim Tebow is a football player who might have an impact on future Super Bowls as a player and interest in him is at an all-time high both because of his football skills and his religious beliefs.

Contrary to what President Obama believes, we are not one of the largest Muslim nations, we are a nation founded on Christian principles, i.e. a Christian nation.

Here is the bottom line. If pro-abortion advocates had been as creative as pro-life advocates, we would be seeing pro-abortion commercials on TV. Tebow is a once-in-a-lifetime personality for pro-life. Timing for the Tebow commercial is spot-on. The only reason pro-abortion advocates are against this is because they don't know how to best it. They can't produce commercials for abortions because an abortion is not something to celebrate as life is.

If pro-abortion advocates can come up with a really good case or message to deliver on the Super Bowl, I am sure CBS would be happy to take their money. Let me give them a hint, it has to tie-in to football and not just some talking head football player telling you about strong women.

And CBS is getting a lot of mileage out of this controversy because of the protests. They could not purchase the amount of FREE publicity that the pro-abortion advocates are generating by protesting. The best way for them to fight this is to let it go and remain silent with a resolve to be more creative in the future because nobody would be talking about this without their protesting.

That's my stand, what's yours?